The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-22

''Do you mean to say that you rebottle
old wines | thought it was considered
sacrilege to disturb it in any way even in
pouring it into the glasses, before it is dis
posed Off
$50 it is" he replied ''but we don't dis
t,Tb it. We handle it as carefully as a
young mother does her first born We
would not shake the contents of a bottle of
good wine for anything you can name. But
it is frequently necessary to look after wine
that has been put away in the American
fashion and allowed to remain undisturbed
for long time. If it is not done, when the
owners want to use the wine they will find
it unfit TO drink
Americans do not lay away their wines
as the English and nearly all other nation
alities do The latter place the bottles on
their sides. OF course, the longer they re-
main in that position the heavier the sedi-
ment that forms on the side nearest the
ground. That makes it necessary to hand
die it very carefully, and if it should be
shaken the sediment would become stirred
IN the wine and spoil it.
ITO avoid this danger some enterprising
American suggested that the bottles be stood
up, and that has ever since been the custom
here
But now an unforeseen danger has
arisen. The average cork win last about
twelve years. Then it begins to rot. Por-
tons of the cork fall into the wine from the
upright position of the bottle, and in a short
time the wine is spoiled. This has brought
into being branch of our business which is
peculiar,
''When the corks in the bottles begin to
rot new corks must be put in. This is a
delicate matter, because if any of the cork
fails in then the whole wine has to be care
fully filtered through paper of French man
ufacture; or, if any of the sediment at the
bottom is disturbed, so that it gets into the
wine proper, the same process has to be gone
through.
1--WE frequently have torebottle wine that
has lain very long. We carefully draw off
the top, leaving only the sediment. This is
generally put in with some new wine and
allowed to remain until all its good proper
tions have been absorbed.
"Many old American families would
rather let the wine they have received
through inheritance rot than either use or
sell it. In many instances they will not even
allow it to be attended to. They look upon it
as sacred heirloom, and each bottle pos
sesses, in their eyes, the same inviolable ma
ture with which they would view the bones
of their ancestors. | think | can say with
out exaggeration that thousands of bottles
of wine are spelling between Wall street and
Central Park at the present moment be-
cause Of the prejudice of the owners against
ildNllE IIltlL tlSluIltI. Inby seem 10 re-
gard these inherited wines as proof of
their good lineage, somewhat as a European
might look upon the family plate which
was made somewhere in the fifteenth cen
fury.
''Some time ago | received a letter from
Mrs. Charles Carew, the wife of an old-time
New York shipping merchant Her hus-
band was well known here when | was
clerk fifty years ago. He had travelled
great deal himself and was acquainted with
every Captain who came into this port.
This acquaintance enabled him to CRAFTY
his passion for collecting fine wines, and a
more select lot of wines than Mrs. Carew
now has is not to be found in this country.
Since her husbands death, some years ago,
she has lived very much retired in West
Forty-sixth street, and her wines have hard
ly been touched. Her letter requested me
to examine them, and | tell you what,
| just gloated over that job.
l went down into the cellar with my assis-
tants and let in what light | could Then /
carefully picked up each bottle and held it
up to the light and Toasted my eyes ON the
soft shades of ruby and yellow. Some of
the corks were decayed and the wine had to
be rebottled. 1t was an awful temptation
to see that beautiful liquid poured out like
SO much oil! There were only about 1000
bottles in her collection, but each bottle has
a history. Mrs. Carew knows them all,
but she is an old lady now, and | don't
know whether she would say very much
about them.